May is mental health awareness month

May is mental health awareness month. Mental Illness impacts those of all ages and can start very young. According to the National Center for Mental Illness (NAMI), one in six US adolescents aged twelve to seventeen experienced a major depressive episode, and three million had serious thoughts of suicide. One in three US young adults aged eighteen to twenty-five experienced a mental illness, one in ten experienced serious mental illness, and 3.8 million had serious thoughts of suicide. 

These are staggeringly high statistics, and I know that if you are a parent of a teen or adult child with mental illness you may be struggling – to find help, to understand your child, to deal with the challenges, to not live in fear, to not feel alone. 

It is very special to me that my book came out in this month of mental health awareness. Through sharing my story of the love and loss of my son through his mental illness and addiction and how I turned my pain into my purpose, it is my greatest hope that my book will help parents on a similar journey feel they are not alone, give them hope for peace and healing, and provide the inspiration to go on.

Finding Peace and Purpose Amidst the Tears: My Journey of the Love and Loss of My Son through His Mental Illness and Addiction- now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble’s online, iBooks. 

Sending love and light, 

Debbie